Pink Rose Society

Columbus 2026 Elections

What a Columbus voter actually decides on November 3, 2026 — the local layer beneath the statewide slate. The headline is what is not here: no mayor and no city council. Columbus runs its municipal elections in odd years, so Mayor Andrew Ginther and council were last on the ballot in 2025 and are next up in 2027. The 2026 ballot is county, state-legislative, congressional, and judicial races, plus levies that certify in the fall.

Most of it is pre-decided. The contests worth watching are few and specific.

The races that are actually contested

The rest of the ballot, by layer

  • Congress: Ohio 3rd Congressional District 2026 — Joyce Beatty (D) vs. Cleophus Dulaney (R), safe D. Plus OH-15 above. Franklin County is split between just these two seats after the 2025 remap.
  • Ohio Senate: three seats up (odd-numbered cycle) — SD-3 (above), SD-15 (Latyna M. Humphrey (D), open seat, safe D), SD-25 (Bill DeMora (D), safe D).
  • Ohio House: all twelve Franklin County seats (HD 1–12). Columbus-core districts are safe Democratic — two drew no Republican at all; the ring is where the contests are.
  • County: one commissioner seat (Erica C. Crawley, D) and County Auditor (Michael Stinziano, D, unopposed). Every other row office is on the 2028 cycle.
  • Judiciary: eight of nine judgeships are unopposed Democrats; the 10th District Court of Appeals seats are uncontested. Probate (above) is the exception. No Municipal Court seats are up in 2026.
  • Levies: none certified yet as of July 2026 (they certify ~August). The big countywide levies — COTA/LinkUS, the zoo, ADAMH, Children Services, the library, and Columbus City Schools — were all renewed in the 2023–2025 window. Columbus Issue 5, the community/crisis-response charter amendment, already passed in May 2026 (~77%).

Why it matters

The interesting story is structural: a deep-blue city whose general elections are largely settled in the primary or by default, wrapped inside a county whose real partisan fights happen in the suburban ring and in one or two seats the maps left competitive. Power here is concentrated and durable; the machinery and the civic stakes sit mostly below the marquee statewide contests.

Sources